


Darker yet Darker

by Ccaprico



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AKA the real reason why Yami uses a sword for his magic, Drabble, F/M, possessed!Yami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:29:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28632534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ccaprico/pseuds/Ccaprico
Summary: Because darkness will always do what darkness does best: corrupt.
Relationships: Charlotte Roselei/Yami Sukehiro
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	Darker yet Darker

Half of the room was gone when Charlotte arrived. 

She hesitated at the doorway, glancing around for any sign of dark disciples hiding within the nooks and crannies of the space, but nothing came of it. She knew that, coming in. No magical presences, other than the thing in front of her - and that didn’t feel like magic. Not really. So it was just her, the room, and the darkness on the opposite side. 

She would have preferred the disciples. 

Despite the urgency, Charlotte couldn’t force herself to run. There was a presence - unpleasant, crawling - against the back of her mind, a well-trained sign that something was amiss. Not that it took a genius to figure out what caused it. People - demons, whoever - didn’t make walls of shadow for the sake of it.

Nacht was right. Yami had to be through there. 

The room could have been quite grand, if it weren’t bisected in the middle. Charlotte stepped forward - once, twice - moving cautiously forward, until she could see where the ground fell into darkness. Where the large, stained windows and stone walls disappeared. A shiver ran up her spine.

Charlotte didn’t dare move closer to it. 

She couldn’t feel any magic coming from the darkness... no, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t like Asta - the magicless boy - who seemed to blend with the natural mana, impossible to sense. More like an absence of magic. A black splotch against paper, slowly seeping outward. 

Even without a magic signature, everyone in the castle must be able to feel it. Even with the dark triad to deal with, and whatever was going on outside with Meroleona and the demon. The wrongness. The complete absence of magic. She’d felt it long before reaching the corridor, but this was the only entrance to the ceremonial altar. 

The darkness moved outward. Slowly, creepily. Not at a pace that would cause her any problems, but eerie nonetheless. She stepped back when the warmth left her body, the chill of the outside working its way into her bones, or the abyss stripping it out of her. 

Unfamiliar, and yet too familiar at the same time. Yami - but  _ wrong _ .

Nacht said this was the way to the ceremony room. Vanica was defeated - trapped in thorns - but she didn’t know about the others. Maybe  _ this  _ was the Qliphoth? It would certainly explain the presence. 

Only… it wasn’t a tree. She couldn’t feel Vangeance’s magic interwoven through the space, only Yami’s (wrong wrong  _ wrong _ ). It wasn’t anything. She couldn’t make out any of the features beyond the darkness. Not the windows or the banners or the stone floor. Sometimes, there’s a hint of a figure in the shadows, a glimpse of a corridor, but it doesn’t stick.

Just an abyss, spreading out across the entire room, maybe further. It could have been a foot deep or a thousand and she wouldn’t have a clue. 

Her legs refused to take another step forward.

The hairs on her arms - her entire body - stood on end as the shadows drew closer. Her stomach dropped. 

_ Just like Yami’s. _

His magic had always been odd - too slippery, too hard, too soft, too heavy. Dangerous, but in the way a wild animal could be dangerous. A very real, very known threat to manoeuvre around. 

But this… Charlotte felt as though she was standing on the edge of a cliff, where the earth was crumbling and the only thing at the bottom was death. 

It felt  _ rancid _ . 

A noise came from behind her, but even that sounded muted next to the wall. She swirled, catching an unfamiliar face. Not one of the disciples Rill stayed behind to fight off - he was different. But the quality of magic... They were definitely in league with the devils. 

“There you are,” he growled, looking all-in-all rather unimpressive as he lunched forward, tearing the ground to shreds. “Finally! I get to kill one of you myself!”

An easy attack to avoid. Charlotte jumped to the side at the last moment, bracing her briars for a counter-attack. The man shot straight past her and into the shadows.

A full-blown shiver ran up her spine, and she can  _ feel  _ the darkness pulse, even if she can’t sense it’s mana. Can feel it react to the sudden intrusion. 

The man stops about ten feet past the border of light and dark, skidding to a stop. He doesn’t sink ( _ so there was a ground _ ) and he doesn’t make any noise when he stops ( _ so sound was absorbed _ ) and he doesn’t realise the amount of danger he’s in. 

Charlotte does. 

The disciple opened his mouth to speak, only for his brows to raise when no noise came out. He prepares an attack, fire bursting to life in the palm of his hand, but even before he has a chance to shoot it towards her, before he can even react, the light flickered out. Eaten by the darkness.

A man falling off the edge of a cliff, but instead of hitting the water at the bottom, the water lifts itself to swallow. 

The shadows coalesce first around the fingertips, working it’s way up around the palm, the forearm. Tendrils wrap around his legs and chest. It doesn’t take long for him to figure out the dangers he’s in. The disciple might be screaming - his mouth is open, he looked terrified - but no noise came out. 

His form blackened and crumbled, dissolving into nothing.

Another shiver racked through her body, all the way from her rooted legs to her trembling shoulders.

It’s childish, to be scared of the dark. But  _ gods above _ , she’s scared of it right now.

Footsteps break through the silence, almost loud enough to startle Charlotte. She looked around for another disciple, but no-one else had come through that door since the last unfortunate soul. She couldn’t feel any magical presence in the near vicinity. 

It took a moment to realise it was coming from the darkness. Heavy boots on stone, heading straight towards her. 

Charlotte braced herself.

And then Yami appeared out of nowhere, pushing between the shadows, stark against the black background. Her hand almost dropped. 

“Yami?” 

_ Wrong. _   
It was a strange effect. Before, the darkness seemed impenetrable, all-consuming. Now, she can see it has nothing on the plumes of magic billowing off of Yami’s form, pitch-black and rancid. Like someone had erased space and forgotten to refill it. The shadows were dark, but Yami was abyssal.

_ No,  _ not Yami. 

He was moving wrong. Too languid, too sluggish. Yami walked with purpose - back straight, shoulders back, arms hunched at the elbows- whether he knew it or not. This was like watching a sleep-walker lumber through their dreams, all heavy limbs and dragged steps. Like watching a corpse stumble out of their grave. 

It took a moment to realise he was dragging something behind him. 

It took a moment more to realise it was Vangeance. 

“Yami!” She called again, but she could hear the noise cutting short when it reached the shadows. Strange. Unnerving. 

Up close, the plumes of magic weren’t coming from nowhere. His hands were blackened and smoking, as were parts of his shoulder. Prominent veins ran up his arms, up his neck, that almost seemed to release their own waves of magic. His grimoire was the worst, spouting darkness like a chimney to the point where it looked on fire. But it was much, much worse than that. 

Yami stopped, and unceremoniously let go of Vangeance’s body. 

The darkness didn’t try to kill Vangeance, which told her all she needed to know about its

origin. 

Possession. 

Just. Not by a devil. 

Charlotte squared her shoulder and jaw. “Yami, can you hear me?”

Several moments passed. No response. 

“Alright, then. If that’s the case… Don’t hold this against me, okay?”

Putting a little magic into her legs, Charlotte leapt back until she stood just beyond the doorway. With a sharp flick of the wrist, briars shot from the hilt of her sword. A preliminary shot, just to see how Yami would react. 

“Briar magic: corpse hunting briar trees!”

They pass the border, hurling towards the motionless man. For a split second, Charlotte considered the idea of them making contact. 

The darkness exploded outward like a shockwave. 

Her briars don’t stand a chance - neither does the ground. The darkness followed along the briars, rotting them from the inside, heading straight for charlotte. They’re ripped to shreds while ground splits, the glass shatters. Dark smoke began pouring from the crevices. 

Charlotte barely cut the magic to her briars before the darkness reached her, exploding out of existence less than a metre in front. She stumbled back. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to knock her to the ground.

She took a moment to gather herself. Black veins crawled across the ground. Tendrils emerged from the wall of shadows, looping and looming. Pieces of debris near the wall seemed to crumble out of existence as black smoke. It had been dormant before, but now the darkness was awake. 

It was very much alive, and it hungered.

Through the now pitch-black room, Yami straightened, squared his shoulders. His arms were coated in shadows, now up to the biceps. The air was heavy. 

Yami’s presence had always been impossible to ignore, but now it felt oppressive. Especially when his gaze met hers, and a slow smile worked its way onto his face. 

_ Wrong, wrong, wrong. _

“Hey there, prickly queen. Lookin’ for me?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick little drabble to get back into the swing of things. I've always liked the idea of Yami's magic being a little more sinister than everyone else's, and this was the result. Hoped you liked it!


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